


Racers

by ScarletC



Category: Cars (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Comfort/Angst, Doc Hudson lives, Gen, M/M, Movie: Cars 3, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, canon angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 10:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12862344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletC/pseuds/ScarletC
Summary: Doc lives, luckily, and Lightning never needed him more before.





	Racers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Areous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Areous/gifts).



“Speed. I am speed.”

The sound of racing was in the distance of his mind, wheels against pavement.

“One winner, forty-two losers. I eat losers for breakfast.”

Engines roaring to life, burnt rubber flying through the air.

“I'm faster than fast. Quicker than quick.”

The turn of the path, almost smooth enough to make him feel as if he were flying-

“I am…” The low gruffness of a certain voice.

“Lighting.” And there it was.

Lightning McQueen opened his eyes slowly, catching the gaze of other car in front of him who was staring fondly right back.

“You and your monologues,” Doc Hudson said gruffly, through there was a soft undertone.

Lightning grinned. “Help keeps me motivated.”

“Well then. What am I here for?”

Lightning rolled his eyes with no real heat, just grinning softly. Doc snorted, but he smiled as well. He looked almost completely carefree. Lightning couldn't express how happy he was just to see him like that.

“You've got a race to win,” Doc said, hitting the lever to the door of the trailer with his back wheel.

 

Luckily it was only racers and their teams when Doc and Lightning rolled out, free of cameras and microphones. They drove their way to the track in pleasant silence.

"Hey, Lightning!" Cale weather called, rolling over to him. Following him was Bobby.

"Hello Mr.Hudson," Bobby said, still sounding as awed as the day he met the old car. "I hope you're well?"

"As well as I'll ever be," Doc replied. He shot a fond glance at Lightning. "With me trying to keep up with this youngster anyhow."

Both Cale and Bobby laughed. "If he wins anymore races, I'll have to have you as my coach."

Doc snorted. "Ah, I think I'll be always be coaching him, winner or loser." Lightning looked away, suddenly feeling his engines burn hotly.

Cale and Bobbie both looked at each other, that secretive look they seem to get only around Lightning when he was with Doc.

"Hey, Doc!" Rusty and Dusty called from their stage, waving their tires at the group.

"Hey, fellas!" Doc called, already rolling towards them. He turned enough to look at Lightning. "I'll see you at the pit."

"Well do, old man," Lightning said, watching his mentor drive away.

Bobbie and Cale were grinning. "Let's get racing," Bobbie said, giving an exaggerated start of his engines.

 

 

* * *

  
  


Lightning was in the lead.

He rode smoothly across the path, feeling beyond free as his engine burned inside him. The hum of it was comforting, as was the feeling of pavement under his tires and the sound of hundreds of cars cheering. This was the thrill he looked forward to every race, every season, everyday.

What was not comforting, however, was the sudden sight of black beside him, already sticking out more than him.

Lightning stole a quick glance, shocked, at the car he never seen before. He was shorter, longer, painted back with bolts of purple.

The car gave him a glance of steely eyes, before leaving Lightning behind to watch him finish the race fast enough to give Lightning a startle.

When Lightning finished in second-second-he spoke to Doc over the microphone.

" _ Wha _ -Who was that, Doc?"

Doc didn't answer for a bit, and Lightning glanced over to see the older car eyeing the winner with narrowed eyes. He was unreadable otherwise.

"Jackson Storm," Doc eventually said. "A  _ rookie _ ."

  
  


* * *

  
  


And that was just the start of it all.

Jackson won again, and again,  _ and again _ .

Slowly, but surely, Lightning's fellow racers and friends were being replaced with new faces. All more new looking then the next.

Lightning lost more races in the spike of his racing career than he thought possible. He lost to the 'rookie' over and over, no matter how much he pushed himself on the track. Even when he kept telling himself he could do it.

What was so much worse, though, was Doc.

After every loss on Lightning's part, another win to Jackson, Doc grew quieter and quieter. He looked more his age these days. He just looked so old. So helpless.

As helpless as Lightning felt.

He even started avoiding Lightning's eye, and that?  _ That  _ hurt the most.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lightning was terrified.

This was a cold terror. No sudden burst of adrenaline, no way to escape, and no enemies he could fight. Just simple, relentless dread. It welled inside him in unbearable pressure.

_ This was it. _

Racing was his life; the only thing he ever wanted to do with it. The only thing they wanted to do. And yet…

Cale was gone, and so was Bobby. Everyone he knew was being let go, or had retired. Probably to never drive the track again. He was the only one left... But for how long?

The thought _ horrified _ him.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lightning realized halfway through the race he couldn’t do it.

Everyone else-faces he didn’t even recognize-passed him without so much as a backwards glance. They continued to pass, ignore, frightened Lightning no matter how much he seemed to push. If he pushed harder, he could pass one of them, sure, but what was once to nearly fifty?

“And Jackson Storm is in the lead again!” One of the announcers called, followed by a the audience shouting in joy.

“Ah, haven’t heard so many loud fans since Lightning’s time,” the other one-Bob-sighed, almost wistfully. Lightning’s brows scrunched down.

_ His time? _

“His time?” The first one-Darrell-asked, echoing his thoughts. “Bob, Lightning is still in the race.”

A pause. “Yes...but…It might be time to starting asking _ the big question _ .”

Lightning’s heart thundered.

“Is this Lightning’s time to become history?”

Light’s engine nearly stopped, but he surged forward.

_ “‘You’re history.’” _

Lightning  _ pushed. _

_ “Moved on right to the next rookie standing in line.” _

“Jackson Storm still in the lead!” Lightning smelled burning tire.

_ “There was a lot left in me. I never got the chance to show ‘em.” _

Lightning felt his tanks emptying, his engines taking in more than they could handle. It burned.

_ “I keep that,-” _

Lightning jumped slightly when his comm buzzed with Doc’s voice.

“Lightning...”

“Yeah, Doc?” He sounded strained; breathless.

“You need to stop pushing yourself.”

Lightning shook his head, the movement barely tangible from the thrumming of his whole body. “No. I can make it.”

“Lightning-”

“I can do it!”

“Lightning.”

“I’m almost there, Doc, I _ can do _ -”

“Lightning!” Doc snapped.

Lightning kept quiet, shocked at Doc’s sudden rise in tone.

“You can’t. It’s over.”

For just a moment, a heartbeat really, Lightning’s engines turned off. It felt like years. The race car became aware of everything in him, like his perspective inverting. He was aware of how thin his tires had turned, the lack of oil in his tanks, and the searing pain from inside him that appeared when Doc finished speaking.

He became acutely aware how close the finish line was.

_ “-to remind me to never go back.” _

His engines started again, somehow pushing more than before.

“Doc,” he rasped. “I  _ have _ to.”

Something was coming.

“Doc,” the other line was silent. Did Doc go? Lightning continued,  _ “I have to _ , because I’m doing this for  _ yo _ -”

His front tires burst into a chaos of rubber, the barrels of his wheels instantly shredding through the leftover skin into the pavement. The screech was loud enough to block anything Doc might’ve said.

His backside lifted into the air.

The last thing he heard was someone shouting his name close to the side of his face before his vision went black in a shatter of glass.

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


There was the sound of mechanical beeping when Lightning woke up.

The room was white, clean and neat. Lightning could tell right away that his tires had been changed to ones that were softer, and he blinked sluggishly in a vain attempt to blink away the giant crack in his sight. He felt sluggish.

He also felt incredibly, utterly tired.

Lightning slowly looked to his right side.

Doc was sleeping, engine off and the only sound was his slow, even breathing. He look as tired as Lightning felt.

Tears pricked his eyes and slowly filled the crack.

“I’m so sorry, Doc…”

 

 

* * *

  
  
  


It seemed to become an unspoken, and rather obvious, agreement that Lightning would not race anymore.

Everyone quietly packed their bags, avoided the press, and left for Radiator Springs.

Lightning was still broken, and the doctors said that it would take a couple of months for the new parts to come in. Maybe even longer, considering what he damaged.

Lightning could wait for the physical pain to stop.

He just couldn’t wait the day that Doc could actually look at him come to pass.


End file.
